Ars System Guide: August 2005 edition

Ars has an end-of-summer update for the System Guide. This month, we refresh …

Hot Rod

Motherboard

EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra

PCI-Express has spread rapidly through the market at all levels. Contemporary AGP-based Athlon 64 chipsets such as nVidia's nForce3-250Gb have had a fairly short reign, as PCI-Express chipsets such as the nForce4 and ATI Xpress200 are now used by almost all major motherboard manufacturers. While PCI-Express is not a necessity at this point, the additional cost of PCI-e is relatively minimal and the better upgrade path it offers is a welcome thing.

Socket 939, PCI-Express, SATA II, Gigabit ethernet, Firewire, eight-channel audio... most major motherboard makers make a board with these features. The pick this time is the Epox EP-9NPA+Ultra, based off the nForce4 Ultra chipset.

Processor

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Retail

How much performance is justifiable in the Hot Rod: as much as we can afford? Or do we step down a little bit in favor of additional features?

The answer this time is the Athlon 64 3500+ on the newest "Venice" core. It is an excellent value for the money with the complete list of performance-enhancing goodies such as a dual channel memory controller and 64-bit support. Overclockers may save a little money with a slightly slower processor such as the 3000+, since most Venice-core chips overclock nicely regardless of the speed rating. Dual core is still too expensive for the Hot Rod, although it is worth keeping a very close watch as more applications begin to make better use of it.

Enthusiasts may want an aftermarket heatsink such as the Thermalright XP-120 or Zalman CNPS7700AlCu for better overclocking than the retail solution, although they should consider that the price of the XP-120 will go a fair way towards a faster processor or faster video card. For the ultimate in cooling, the XP-120 is worth thinking about.

RAM

Two 512MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM

One gigabyte of memory is the realistic minimum today for a performance user. Most games can eat up 1GB with little trouble, as well as day-to-day multitasking for most power users.

Those seeking the ultimate in overclocking should look for premium lines from Corsair, Muskin, and Crucial's Ballistix. We save a little money by not pushing for the last little bit of that overclock with more standard memory.

Be careful when choosing memory for your Athlon 64 boards and run quality, AMD-approved stuff when possible. You'll have fewer headaches that way.

Video

eVGA Geforce 6800GT

In the June update, we were excited about the performance gains of the nVidia 6800-series and ATI X800/X850-series cards. They were eclipsed right before press time by the high-end nVidia 7800GTX, which shook up the high-end market again. The ATI Radeon X800XL is probably the best mid-range performance value out now, while the NVIDIA Geforce 6800GT is probably the most capable mid-range card on the market. We edge in favor of additional capabilities such as Shader Model 3.0 and lean towards the 6800GT.

The 7800GTX did not have any lower-end brethen released alongside it in the June update, so the existing recommendations were safe. In fact, they are still safe, as ATI's next-generation cards are not yet here, and only one lower-end card has emerged from the new 7800-series family: the 7800GT, which performs very well, but is is still too expensive for the Hot Rod.

Those who need less can get by much more modestly and still maintain decent gaming performance. The slower ATI Radeon X700 series and NVIDIA Geforce 6600-series are much cheaper, but more than adequate for 2D work and most gaming.

Sound

M-Audio Revolution 7.1

If you intend to game hardcore and nothing else with your Hot Rod, seriously consider the Creative Audigy2. The M-Audio Revolution 7.1, while an excellent card, just is not quite as good for gaming as the Audigy2. Superior overall audio quality is the hallmark of the Revolution 7.1, and it manages to deliver a nice blend of both the better audio quality we like while still being a solid card for gaming. The Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 is also worth considering, as it appears to be another excellent Via Envy24HT-based card, much like the M-Audio Revolution 7.1.

Audio/Video forum members on Ars Technica are essentially split down the middle between the Revolution 7.1 and the Audigy 2 for the Hot Rod. It can swing either way depending on your needs, so if you choose to emulate the Hot Rod recommendation for your own build, do not feel compelled to stick with the M-Audio just because it is our recommendation. Again, buy what suits you best, be it the Revolution 7.1, Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1, Audigy 2, or the previous favorite, the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.

Communications

Network card—none (on-board)

Home networking is a given today among computer enthusiasts. High-speed Internet access almost always requires a NIC of some sort. Onboard Ethernet in 10/100 or 10/100/1000 Mbit flavors is readily available today.

Wireless cards and access points are affordable and may be of interest to those with wireless devices, or those who simply do not want to run wireless for their new home network. They are not for everyone though and are not a part of the recommendation, but 802.11g may be worth considering for many. Linksys, Netgear, D-Link, and many others do 802.11g gear.

Cost: n/a

Hard drive

Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 250GB

Given frequent rebates and sales on hard drives, keep an eye out for good deals; we have seen very good pricing on drives as large as 300GB at recent sale + rebate prices on several occasions.

For ultimate performance, the 10,000rpm Western Digital Raptor 74GB is the drive to pick. Its small capacity makes it hard to justify as the only drive we would put into a system. The fact that current 7200rpm drives are very good performaners means that we feel comfortable in making a single 7200rpm disk the recommendation, especially given that we do have to make some compromises in the Hot Rod.

The Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 has a five-year warranty, low noise, and plenty of performance to boot. Competitors from Hitachi and Maxtor are faster, but the difference is so miniscule in the real world that we no longer worry too much about which drive maker you buy from.

Optical drive

DVD rewritable/CD-RW: NEC ND-3540A

DVD-writers are too cheap not to have, and performance continues to improve every few months. While burn speeds seem to indicate that 16x is the limit, dual-layer performance continues to grow, from 2x to 8x in under 18 months. Quality burners from NEC, BenQ, Pioneer, Sony, Lite-On, and others make the choice easy by making all of your choices good ones.

High-speed media, both single and dual layer, is still scarce in the US, but with the relatively small price difference between 8x and 16x units, the extra money for 16x is worth it.

DVD-ROM: Lite-On 16X DVD-ROM

It doesn't cost much more than a CD-ROM, and you need a second drive for CD-to-CD copying. We would prefer Pioneer's DVD-120 if we could still find it, but the current Sony and Lite-On and most of the competiton are pretty close in performance and features.

Case

Antec SLK3800B

The move to PCI-Express comes at the same time as the ATX12V specification evolves from 1.3 to 2.0, marking a shift from the older 20-pin main power connector to a 24-pin connector. A PCI-Express 6-pin (2x3 pin) video power connector also appears on some video cards now. Finding a power supply beefy enough to support these features is doable, but not always easy. Making things even more difficult is the release of updated power supplies under the same part numbers from many manufacturers, including Antec.

Check carefully and you will find that most enthusiast-targeted components do not yet require 24-pin power connectors and that PCI-Express video power connectors may not be required yet.

This makes our job easier: the tried-and-true Antec SLK3700BQE has recently been joined by the SLK3800B, with a 400W ATX12V 2.0 power supply and all the nice things we need.

Plenty of other alternatives remain. Those who want more power, more cooling, and more capacity can look at offerings such as the Enermax EG-495P (485W, ATX12V 2.0) and Sparkle/Fortron-Source Blue Storm AX500A (500W, ATX12V 2.0) for power, and the extremely-well-done coolcases D8000 and mnpctech SC195. Even larger chassis such as the Chenbro Gaming Bomb 2, Lian-Li V1000, Lite-On FS020, and Chenbro Genie exist as well. Going smaller is also a viable option, with chassis such as the Antec SLK2650.

Monitor

Hyundai L90D+

Audio/Visual forum members have been big on LCDs for a long while, and prices have dropped considerably from just a few years ago. Response times and color reproduction have improved considerably from even a year ago, with 24-bit 16.7 million color fast-response time units becoming very affordable, particularly in the last few months as 8ms and 12ms PVA technology panels enter high volume production.

The Hyundai L90D+ is one example of a nice 19" 8ms 16.7 million color PVA panel. The extra cost over a 17" unit may or may not be worthwhile to some, while others may prefer to step up directly to the 20" 2001FP, which is a very good monitor for an excellent price when it is on sale. In the 17" market, competitors such as the Samsung 710T and BenQ FP71E are definitely worth considering.

CRTs still have some advantages, namely color gamut and refresh rates. With the monitor being a key interface with your computer, buying something that suits your needs best is critical. The limited color gamut and the response time limitations of LCDs are a very real issue for many. Of the CRTs, the Viewsonic P95f/P95f+, Samsung 997DF, and NEC FE991SB are all excellent choices.

Speakers

Logitech Z-5300

5.1 sound is done fairly well by the Z-5300, particularly for gamers. Those who want something a little different should also look at Altec Lansing, Klipsch, Cambridge Soundworks, and others; around this price, plenty of decent stuff can be found.

If we had to go with a nicer 2 or 2.1 setup we would switch our recommendation to at the Diva M200s or something else, perhaps from Cambridge SoundWorks.

Mouse

Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical

Buy what you like! We stick with the de facto two button + wheel recommendation, in this case a Microsoft, and leave the more-capable mice out of the recommendation for the moment.

Gamers should look at the Logitech MX518, while those who want the top-of-the-line should look at the MX1000. The Microsoft Intellimouse with the tilt wheel is worth considerating for those who don't like the feel of Logitech mice. Don't forget about wireless mice and keyboards combinations if you do shop for a wireless mouse.

Keyboard

Microsoft Internet Keyboard

If you like natural keyboards, the Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard is a favorite around the Ars Orbiting Headquarters. Older "click" models such as the IBM Model M are favorites for many, while some of us prefer quiet units such as Dell's Quietkey.

Keyboards are personal preference, so we pick a fairly safe conventional recommendation in the Guide, and you can pick and choose as you like from what you prefer—not necessarily what we prefer.

Floppy

Mitsumi 1.44MB

A floppy drive is still a basic tool for system construction, especially for pesky new pieces of hardware which aren't supported by the bootable CD you're using. Teac is another name brand we like, but in reality, a random pull from a vendor is likely to be a quality Sony, Teac, Mitsumi, or other unit.

USB flash drives are a viable alternative to a floppy replacement for many. The floppy drive will probably be around for a long time, although some are countings the days until it disappears from the System Guide. Knowing the staying power of old hardware, we most emphatically will not predict when that day is.fs

Total price: US$1551.80, not including shipping and handling (8/30/2005, no OS)

Recommended operating systems

We can recommend them all, because they willl all run well on this box, but you do not need them all!

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

64-bit extensions arrive to Windows XP. Take advantage of performance improvements with programs that support 64-bit instructions enabled on the Athlon 64, Opteron, Xeon, and Pentium 4. When deciding between Windows XP in the (conventional) 32-bit and the newer x64 edition, keep in mind that hardware drivers for x64 edition are less mature and often as a result, slower.

Windows XP Professional

Windows 2000 with a lot more glitz and a few improvements. Gaming support is further improved over Windows 2000, and while some quirks due to the high level of feature integration remain, XP Professional is a choice many want to make.

Linux

Any computer enthusiast worth his salt boots more than one OS. Linux is a wonderful choice for the Hot Rod: powerful, cool, and cheap. Take your pick of distributions and go nuts! Slackware, Debian, Suse, and Mandrake, try Linuxiso.org or Cheapbytes.com, or others.

Cost: Free, or around US$50 for a prepackaged distribution like Debian's (6/25/2005)